Author's Note: Hello guys, I bring you a new chapter. I have no idea if you're enjoying it or not because no one reviews it but in this chapter we will finally introduce Zaraki Kenpachi. When I'm describing him I say he has long black hair, that's because I'm using the Zaraki after the time skip, if you want to know how he looks just google "Zaraki Kenpachi time skip".


CHAPTER 5: Encounter with a demon

A warm feeling on Mileena's eyes made her squint, waking her up. When she slowly opened her eyes she was blinded by the warm beam of sunlight that slipped through the trees, landing on her face. Putting her hand on her eyes to regain her vision she woke up alone, Raven wasn't on her lap anymore. Mileena got up and stretched her arms, looking around to see if she was nearby. She started to walk, looking for Raven when she heard tiny branches break up, caused by someone stepping on them. Her attention went there and the first thing that came to mind was Raven but when she got closer to the source of the noise, a familiar sound that Mileena knew too well could be heard from behind, something was flying towards her. She turned around, her quick reflexes saved her from the small knife coming with speed towards her, cocking her head to the side to dodge it, the knife got nailed in the tree trunk behind her. Before she could look for its owner someone coming from where the initial noise was made grabbed Mileena from behind, trying to hold her. Mileena easily stumbled back with him and slammed him on the tree behind. The brute force of the impact made him release Mileena, she turned around to face her attacker while simultaneously slashing with her fingernails. Her eyes instinctively closed for a brief second to protect them from the blood that was spurting out, Mileena shredded the person's throat with her fingernails. The moment she felt the warm blood on her face and inhaled its scent, her tarkatan side came to the surface. She involuntarily lunged at the his throat and viciously ripped the flesh from his neck, eating it while watching him collapse on the ground. It was a man dressed in dark clothes, probably to camouflage himself at night. Mileena's face was full of his blood and before she could inspect him further she vanished up in the trees, leaving a pink aura behind her for a brief moment before it slowly dissipated. The man now down on the ground, raised his hands to his throat in an attempt to stop the bleeding but Mileena's bite was brutal, moments later his hands went back down, ceasing any struggle. Having a lifeless expression on his face, his eyes slowly closed. A second person appeared from a nearby bush and rushed to him.

"Hey!, hold on, don't die- He whispered- where is sh-"

Mileena appeared behind and grabbed him by the back of his head, smashing it against the tree trunk. He turned him around, his face was all bloody with tiny pieces of wood stuck in his skin. When his eyes met Mileena's he tried to say, coughing blood:

"Y-you...monster..."

Mileena let go of him and slashed her fingernails across his eyes, mutilating the upper part of his face. He screamed as blood was spurting out of the wounds uncontrollably, running down his face.

"AARGHH-"- He yelled in agony before feeling an enormous pressure on his throat, stopping any sounds out of his mouth.

"Your wretched eyes were not worthy to behold me, besides, I don't need you to see, I need you to talk."- She growled angrily at him.

Mileena had to calm herself down, seeing this amount of blood in front of her made her tarkatan urges grow further, she wanted to lunge at him and tear his flesh apart from his bones but she resented. She needed answers first.

"I will not say this twice, give me the name of the fool who paid for my head."- She said while releasing a bit of pressure on his neck so that he could talk.

"ARGH...AH...It was-"

He tried to say before an arrow got impaled in his mouth, nailing him to the tree trunk. Mileena frustrated turned her head around, her eyes fell upon Raven who was running towards her.

"Raven, what is the meaning of-"

"Mileena we have to go, now!."- She said while starting to run.

Mileena still frustrated decided to follow her and they both ran through the forest for a good amount of time before their pace slowed down, finally stopping to catch a breath. Raven turned around and saw that Mileena's face was all stained crimson, she rushed to her and with a concerned tone she said:

"Mileena are you alright?, please tell me this blood isn't yours. Here let me-"

Mileena's tarkatan side still present slapped away the hand of Raven coming to her face and grabbed her by her throat.

"Explain yourself!, before I rid this world of your existence."- She growled while staring right into her eyes.

When Raven saw her eyes full of anger she couldn't help but feel fear, that however wasn't her only problem, the pressure on her throat immediately stopped any passage of air through it.

"Mileena...I...can't...breathe..."- Raven struggled to say with almost no air left in her.

Mileena saw the fear in Raven's eyes and released her from her grip, she turned her back to her and tried to calm down, scolding herself inside her head for what she did. Raven's hands went to her throat and she started to cough, trying to get air in her lungs again. Mileena turned her head around, seeing Raven in pain made her feel uneasy, she wanted to go help her and apologize but her pride wouldn't let her, as empress, she wouldn't show such weak feelings. Adrenaline still flowing through her veins and the taste of blood and flesh in her throat she wasn't fully calmed down which Raven noticed when she approached her with the same scary look as before, not wanting to angry her anymore she said:

"Assassins don't talk Mileena, I've told you, things don't work like that. No one sees who pays you to kill a target, you just get a name, location and the gold."- She said with a cracking voice.

Raven wasn't looking at her anymore, her gaze was at the ground, not daring to make eye contact with the angry former empress.

"He was about to give me a name."- Mileena growled while she grabbed Raven's chin and raised it, forcing her to lock eyes with her.

"I...I'm sorry...empress."- She said, trying to escape her gaze.

Seeing that Mileena was just staring into her eyes, Raven tried to break free from her gaze and look away but couldn't, Mileena's bright orange dragon-like eyes had already charmed her, she couldn't do anything about it besides just stare back into them, waiting to be released. Mileena kept staring into her eyes for a few seconds, examining them before saying, now with a more calm voice:

"Fear is a heavy burden Raven, It makes you hesitate your actions and halves your steps in combat. It is a sign of weakness and frailty- she cupped Raven's face, gently caressing her cheek with her thumb- you are neither of those. Do not let me see fear in you eyes ever again."

Raven didn't say anything, while still locked in her gaze she moved her hands to her face, gently touching her lips and teeth, cleaning the blood that was all over them.

"Tsk, not even a day out of Outworld and they've already tracked us down."- Mileena kept talking while Raven was cleaning her face.

"When we find that worm I will take my time in savoring every bite before-"

Raven put her hand over Mileena's lips which made her shut up. Before she could ask what was going on she saw Raven looking into the far distance, Mileena's eyes went there as well. A man was approaching them, Mileena recognized him and immediately started to walk towards him as she raised her mask over her mouth, followed by Raven who was behind her.

"Jackson Briggs"- Mileena hissed at him.

"Mileena and...Raven?, that is a surprise, what is the-"

Jax tried to ask something before he instantly raised his metallic arms in front of his face, easily stopping an arrow that was coming towards him, interrupting him. The arrow got deflected when it made contact with the metal, leaving not even a scratch on his arm.

"What are you doing here Mileena?."- He asked again.

"Silence!, how dare you speak to me in such a manner, insolent earthrealmer."- Mileena was starting to get angry, showing it in her tone.

"Same as always I see, either way, you're both coming with me. We can do this the easy way or the hard way."

"I will enjoy watching you suffer."- Mileena growled while materializing two sai in her hands.

"Hard way it is then."- Jax said while punching his fists making the loud sound of two metal objects colliding with each other.

Mileena threw her sais at him before vanishing into the air. Jax raised his hands in front of him, forming an "x" to protect himself, the sais easily got deflected as they were no match for his metal arms. Mileena teleported behind him and tried to get the first strike but to her surprise Jax anticipated this move and turned around immediately to hit her with the back of his metallic fist, sending Mileena rolling on the ground. Before she could recover, Jax grabbed her by her throat and lifted her up, Mileena tried to release herself but his grip was too strong. Her vision was slowly going blurry, starting to lose consciousness. Before passing out, Mileena saw a black cloud appear behind Jax. It was Raven, who tried to kick him in the head but was easily blocked by his other hand. He grabbed Raven's leg and slammed her on the ground, doing the same with Mileena.

"You've gotten sloppy Raven. Don't make me repeat myself, you're both coming with me."

Before he could grab both of them again, Mileena kicked him in the face and quickly teleported, she appeared a few feet away followed by Raven who was next to her.

"Empress...I'll take care of him, you run...and find a way back to Outworld."- Raven said in between coughs.

"I should cut off your tongue for ordering me around. After we deal with this pest maybe if you beg enough I might forgive your insolence."- Mileena said, turning her head to her.

Raven stared into her eyes for a few seconds, her charming smile was now present. This made Mileena smile a bit under her mask before turning her head to face Jax.

"You're too kind, empress."- Raven grinned.

They both took their fighting stances, preparing to start the assault when something caught everyone's attention. Footsteps on the grass could be heard in the distance, all three of them looked to where it was coming. A man was steadily making his way to them, Mileena tried to see if she recognized him but he was to far away, at his current distance only his clothes could be examined. He was wearing old japanese clothing, a short kimono on the top with a white sash holding his hakama in place. The thing that stand out the most was his large white haori with its sleeves ripped out that he had on top of everything, reaching almost to the ground. While Mileena was examining his clothes he finally got close enough to see his face, she didn't recognize him. He was tall and muscular, emanating a very powerful aura, just seeing him from distance was enough to make Mileena feel uneasy. He had long black hair, green eyes and thin scar running down the left part of his face from the roots of where his hair began to the end of where his jawline ended.

"Ha, I thought I heard something this way. Looks like I'm just in time for the party."- He said while having a big smile on his face.

The man slowly unsheathed a big sword from the sheath on his sash, the entire edge of it was chipped, showing that his sword had countless battles. He left the weight of the sword rest on his shoulder and with a deep voice, almost demon-like he said:

"Now...which one of you here is...the strongest."- His eyes jumping from Raven, Mileena and Jax as he said that.

"Who are-"

Before Jax could finish his question, the man appeared in front of him, with a smile on his face and his sword up high coming down in a diagonal angle with speed, Jax only had time to react by raising his arms up to try to block the sword with his forearms. When the sword made contact with Jax's metallic arms Mileena and Raven widened their eyes, as he was easily sliced up in half like it was child's play. Jax had a shocked expression on his face, not even realizing what just happened as his upper body was slowly sliding down across his lower part, falling to the ground followed by the rest of it, blood was gushing out of his body parts, filling the ground, making a pool around him in just a few seconds. The man standing in it swung his sword in the air to get rid of the blood from its edge, he raised it to his shoulder again and with a bored expression on his face he said:

"Tsk, what a waste of time...- he turned around and started to walk away- see ya..."

"Wait!."- Mileena shouted towards him.

"Uh?."- He said, turning around to face her.

"Who are you?, what are you doing here?, why did you-"

"Shut up, being noisy like this, you're giving me a headache."- He sighed with a disinterested tone.

Mileena threw her two sai immediately at him, they both found their place in his chest.

"How dare you speak to me like that, your insolence shall be paid with your life."- She growled at him.

"Uh?."- He looked at the sai that were impaled in him.

A smile returned to his face as he took them out one by one, blood running down his chest coming out of the wounds formed by the sais.

"What's this?, maybe we can have some fun after all."- He smiled.

"Mileena, we must be very careful. I don't know who he is but he looks really strong."- Raven advised.

She was right, even though the man was still at a distance, just being in his presence was a test to your will, his aura felt like a sword being pressed against your throat, making you unable to breathe properly.

"I know, we will have to work together this time, we don't know what he's capable off. He does indeed use some sort of teleport technique like us so keep that in mind."- Mileena replied.

"Enough talk!."- The man dashed, interrupting them.

Raven faded away, Mileena stood her ground, materialized two sai in her hands and took her fighting stance, waiting for him to get closer. The man started his onslaught at her, violently swinging his sword from different directions. Mileena was able to deflect the swings but noticed that they were very strong and quick, if the timing of her parry was just a second too late she could end up like Jax. Seeing that she couldn't keep this up for much longer, she managed to stuck his sword in the rear blades of her sai, stopping the swings and letting her catch a breath.

"Excellent reflexes."- He praised Mileena, still having a smile on his face.

A few arrows coming from the far trees in the distance got stuck in his shoulder. The man didn't even budge, he just looked back and instantly vanished. Raven was ready to shoot again but the moment she blinked to take aim, the man was gone. Mileena saw Raven get split in half along with the tree where she was hiding in one swing of the man's sword. Before Mileena could react to it, she caught a glimpse of a black shadow engulfing Raven's body before dissipating completely into thin air.

"Her clone."- Mileena sighed in relief.

Blinded by the possibility of Raven's death she didn't see the punch coming from the man who was now in front of her again. Sending her rolling on the ground a few feet away, she heard the man speaking to her:

"Get up, you're not dead yet are ya?"- He asked, taking the arrows out of his shoulder.

Mileena felt some one helping her to get up, she looked up and saw Raven, black smoke coming from her body.

"A clone I assume."- Mileena said while massaging the muscles on her face, trying to ease the pain.

The clone just nodded.

"You will pay for that."- Mileena growled, running at the man with Raven's clone following her.

"HA, I can't wait."- He replied smiling.

While running, Mileena noticed more clones coming out of the bushes behind him, she had to plan her assault to be in sync with Raven. The man swung his sword at her but instead of dodging it Mileena just vanished, appearing in the air behind him, falling down on him with her sai, digging it viciously in his back. The man raised his hand behind him and grabbed Mileena by her hair, brutally throwing her to the ground. Mileena felt all the air in her lungs leaving her body, she managed to ignore it seeing that his sword was coming down. Before the man's sword reached her skin, a kick from Raven's clone to his face interrupted him, making him stumble back a way a few steps, she jumped to strike again but this time was sliced in an instant by his swing. A black cloud of smoke left from the pieces of the clone surrounded him, leaving little visibility around. Another clone jumped in front of him, where the last one failed and punched him in the face, the punch landed thanks to the cloud which momentarily blinded him. This pushed him back, right into the trap that was waiting for him. The other two clones from behind him managed to get in range without being noticed. Each of them lunged at him digging their daggers from behind, since he was stumbling back caused by the punch the stabs were ever more devastating. Seconds after the assault he tried to grab the clone in front of him but another one appeared, grabbing his arm before it could reach the clone and held it close to his body, the other clones did the same, locking every limb, rendering him immobile. Before he could retaliate the real Raven appeared in the air in front of him, landing a straight kick to his face as hard as she could muster, the clones were holding him tight, making sure there was no way he was going to block or dodge it. The clean and powerful kick to his face sent him flying over the ground a good amount of distance. Rolling and hitting rocks on his path, creating more bruises on his body, after a few moments he finally stopped, leaving a dusty cloud on his trail. Raven flicked her hand and the clones immediately obeyed, going to where he was to finish him off.

"Ughhh, what is that guy's skull made of?, I nearly broke my shin."- Raven grunted while helping Mileena get up.

"You did well...I think we killed him."- Mileena said coughing.

"Yeah, if he's still alive my clones will finish him off."- Raven said relieved.

They both locked eyes and stared at each other for a few seconds before something hit Raven in the head, the impact dazed her for a brief moment before she almost fell down, luckily, Mileena caught her, holding her by the shoulders. Raven held on to her, trying to stabilize herself, she looked down to see what hit her. Her expression turned to fear and shock as her own decapitated head was in front of her, it was looking at her with its mouth wide open and lifeless eyes. Fear was starting to crawl up on Raven's skin, seeing her own face like that, imagining that could be her in the next few moments. Panic thoughts were racing through her mind when suddenly Mileena stomped the head with her heel, making it vanish, leaving only a black cloud of smoke around her foot. This snapped Raven out of the trance she was unconsciously in, when the black smoke was gone she looked up and saw that Mileena was staring at her angrily, -"Do not let me see fear in your eyes ever again."- a memory instantly came to mind looking into her angry eyes. Raven shook her head immediately, pushing the fear and rest of her thoughts away, trying to focus. She looked up again, with determination in her eyes she nodded.

"What was that?, It felt like an insect bit me."- A low and deep voice could be heard from within the cloud of dust- If you're gonna kick...you better put everything you've got into it!."- The man shouted while throwing the remaining corpse of the clone at them.

Mileena positioned herself in front of Raven and sliced the clone body into pieces with her sai, leaving only a black cloud surrounding them for a few seconds before it slowly dissipated into the air.

"How is he still alive?, he should be dead!."- Raven said from behind her.

Mileena turned her head to face her.

"Don't-"

"GYAHAHAHA-HAHAHAHA-HAHAHAHA."- A demonic laugh could be heard in the distance.

Both Mileena and Raven's attention went to where the laugh was coming from. Slowly the dusty cloud started to dissipate, revealing the man. He was standing up, Raven's clones were around him, all sliced up into tiny pieces, slowly vanishing, limb by limb, piece by piece, leaving black smoke clouds around which only made him look even more menacing and intimidating than both of them thought possible. At his feet a pool was starting to form caused by all the blood that was falling from his wounds, his entire body was crimson, filled with arrows, daggers and open wounds, yet he was laughing like it was nothing. Holding Raven's last clone in his grip by the head, who was struggling to release itself he continued his demonic laugh.

"HAHAHAHA...who are you calling dead?. This is fucking fantastic, I feel more alive than ever. Now then...- he said while raising his sword in front of him- let's get this thing rolling."- He smiled, crushing the head of Raven's clone easily with just applying a bit more force to his grip.

Not wasting another second, Raven faded a few steps back, leaving another clone where she originally was. She drew her bow and started firing arrows in his direction. The man vanished, slicing through the clone and dashing to Raven with speed, not paying attention to the arrows that were getting stuck in him. When he was in front of Raven he struck her with the pommel of his sword right in the stomach. This sent her flying a good portion before her momentum stopped, rolling on the ground unconscious caused by the sheer force of the impact.

"RAVEN!"- Mileena yelled at the sight of her on the ground.

"Pay attention."- The man said, now behind her.

Mileena didn't even look back as she felt the sword cutting the air already, getting closer to her by the second. She raised her sais above her head and managed to block the swing, making a loud sound of steel clashing and some tiny sparks caused by the force of the sudden impact between the sword and her sais. Mileena was using a lot strength struggling to keep his sword from coming down.

"You're focus is improving, unlike at the beginning of the fight where you were just reacting to my moves, now you're actually able to see them and keep up with me."- The man smiled.

Feeling that he was overpowering her, she kicked him in the stomach before fading away gaining distance to take a breath.

"How does he still have this much power?, how isn't he dead?."- Mileena thought to herself.

On top of the multiple wounds on his body the new arrows carved in from Raven's bow should have weakened him, the sole amount of blood that he had already lost should have been enough to kill him, yet he was standing tall, laughing, not fazed at all by any of this.

HAHAHAHA, don't die on me, I haven't had my fill yet. Keep your reflexes sharp...here's where the fun starts."- He said smiling before dashing to her.

Mileena gripped her sai firmly and punched when he was in front of her. The man grabbed her fist by letting the sai go through his palm, not even paying attention when the cold metal sai pierced through his skin.

"Gotcha."- His eyes were focused on Mileena the whole time.

Holding her in place he swung his sword at her viciously from different directions, Mileena couldn't dodge properly nor fade away, using her free hand she parried his swings with the sai as best as she could, her other hand being trapped in his grip left her quite exposed. Lacerations started to appear on her body, she managed to parry the vital spots that the man was going for but the restricted mobility was leaving her with a lot of openings. The fatigue of parrying the onslaught on his sword was also a factor, making her sloppy which caused the sword to scrape her skin various times throughout her body. Suddenly the swings stopped, Mileena finally got a second to breathe before looking at him. The man took his sword backwards and lunged it at her with the pointy top of the sword, in a piercing way. Before Mileena could blink the sword was right in front of her face, she quickly cocked her head to the side, managing to dodge it in time. Without hesitating she dug her fingernails in his forearm to make sure he couldn't attack with his sword, she jumped and kick the hand that was holding her in place, making him release her. She faded away while throwing both her sai at him in the process which found their place in his chest but just like the arrows it was of no use, he wasn't even aware of them. Mileena now with some breathing distance felt a warm stream run down her cheek, over her mask before reaching her lips. She licked it to taste her own blood, it looks like her dodge wasn't quite fast enough, another cut was added to her already thorn body.

"Haha, good reaction."- He smiled and started walking towards her.

The man with all the beating he took and the arrows in him was stumbling a bit but Mileena on the other hand was barely able to keep her balance, she was really fatigued, even though she would never give up, her body was reaching its limits.

"What's your name?."- The man asked.

"..."- She stared at him as he was getting closer.

"...Mileena..."- She hesitated but in the end answered him.

"What is it that you want from me?."- She asked him.

"I don't want anything, I'm just enjoying our fight. I love fighting and this feeling I have right now is something I haven't felt in a long time, the feeling of fighting a strong opponent, of putting your life on the edge, it feels amazing. Forget everything right now and let's just enjoy our fight."- He said with a big smile on his face.

"You should be dead by now, how are you withstanding your wounds?."- She asked him not caring about her confused tone.

"HAHAHAHA...As long as I'm having a blast in a fight I don't care what happens to my body. Pain and death is the price we pay for fun."

"Fun?, you're crazy."- Mileena hissed at him.

"I'm crazy?, HAHAHAHA, you're the crazy one, how can you be this strong and not love fighting?."

He dashed at her, Mileena's fatigued body almost couldn't keep up with his speed, his sword was coming down to cut her, she raised her hands in front of her face trying to block it with her sai, she was successful to do so but when he pulled the sword all the way down it managed to tear through the skin on her forearms. It was a cut deep enough to make Mileena squint her eyes at the pain for a second, when she opened her eyes again the man wasn't in sight anymore. Seconds later her vision went dark, Mileena was confused and didn't know what was happening. The man grabbed her face from behind, covering her eyes with his palm and slammed her on the ground. After the hard impact on the ground she managed to catch a glimpse of the sword's edge coming towards her in a piercing way. Before the sword made its way through Mileena's throat she managed to fade away, only leaving a cut. Her hand went to the wound, her palm feeling very warm she looked down, it was all crimson, her throat's wound was bleeding quite badly. She used her remaining energy to teleport away a few more steps, thinking she could hide for a moment while planning her next attack. Struggling for a while she managed to stand up, the use of that many teleports on her weak and fatigued body made her stumble backwards a few steps, she almost fell down but stopped when her back hit something.

"I don't like to chase my prey...but I'm good at it."- He smiled before swinging his sword at her.

Mileena quickly turned around, the slash was quick and she didn't react in time to fully parry it, she just managed to deflect some of the force away, still, the swing sent her rolling on the ground. Not having the energy left to use the momentum of the strike to get up, she kept rolling, hitting rocks and pointy branched on the way, adding more cuts and bruises. Her body was already starting to get numb, she wasn't feeling pain anymore. When she stopped, she could feel the blood spurting out of the laceration, it was a deep cut, if her reaction would have been a second slower only the upper part of her body would have been rolling right now, as she would have been cut in half. She managed to lift her head up to look at him. The man had a smile on his face, the edge of his sword stained red with Mileena's blood, slowly and steadily approaching her, taking out the arrows and sais out of his chest. When he was in front of her, Mileena wanted to yell at him, but her body reached its limit, it wasn't responding to her orders anymore, her head fell on the ground, her vision went dark and her eyes closed. The man looked down at her with a serious look, he stood there, examining her. Seeing no movement whatsoever. After a few more seconds of examination he suddenly saw her body slightly starting to move up and down caused by her breathing, at this point, a big smile was forming on his face again before saying:

"It's been a blast Mileena."

To be continued...


Hope you enjoyed reading this chapter and if its not to much to ask, care to leave a review. I want to know if you are liking the story so far.